Plain Talk
by beccazoe31
Summary: Third story in my Wanderer's Human Family series. Apart, Part of Being Human, and now- Plain Talk. Now that Wanda has promised Melanie and the boys that she is with her family to stay, there remains one member of her family who needs to have little visit with her.


Heidi and Trudy were sharing wedges of a fresh orange as they worked.  
A small blonde figure entered the kitchen from the direction of the game room.

"Hi Trudy."

"Oh, hi Wanda. How was the picnic?" Wanda waved her greeting at Heidi  
since the other woman had a mouthful of orange at that moment.

"Wonderful. Thank you for all the delicious food-especially the devilled eggs."

"No problem. Our brave raiders deserve a treat." Trudy and Heidi were  
on kitchen duty for the upcoming supper hour. Wanda had stopped as she  
passed through the kitchen/dining cave on a mission. "Thank you for all these goodies you and the kids got on the last raid." Trudy always spoke to Wanda as if they were of a similar—that is older-age group. Everyone else was one of 'the kids.'

Heidi was mixing up several large bowls of salad as Trudy was preparing the big case of pork chops the raiders had acquired outside of Los Angeles. There was a large wholesale grocery there and Wanda already had an alias with that store as a junior chef at a large restaurant...which made getting large containers of supplies easy.

"Have either of you seen Jeb..?"

Heidi chimed in as she swallowed her orange wedge and as she diced  
fresh broccoli crowns into one her salads. "Yes...he was headed  
outside for his nightly dose of fresh air."

Trudy laughed. "And to chew on his pipe and lament the absence of his  
beloved pipe tobacco."

"Oh. Thanks. He was asking for me a little while ago...I better go  
speak to him."

"Off you go then...we'll save you both some dinner...if he should get  
long-winded with you..." Heidi looked up and mouthed: "_If...?_"

"Thanks. Oh...Trudy? The next time we're on kitchen chores  
together-would you please tell me how you make the devilled eggs?"

Taken by surprise she replied, "Sure honey...it's easy..."

Wanda nodded and left. Trudy looked up from her seasoning and  
marinating chore and laughed, shaking her head. Heidi looked at her  
and asked, "What's so funny..?"

"Looks like next Tuesday I'll be sharing my grandmother's famous devilled egg recipe-with an extraterrestrial...what a life!"

Winding through the passageway to the outside, Wanda thought back on the events of the afternoon. She was still surprised by the depth of love her new family shared with her. Despite all the pain and fear of the past year, Wanda knew she would not trade her life with these people for anything.

"Jed..?" Wanda called, as she exited the caves and looked around. It  
was approaching evening and the alternating rays and shadows from the sunset were obscuring her vision. Even so, she had a good idea of where she needed to search. Walking up the short path to the overlook where she and Ian went when they took 'a walk' she shaded her eyes with her hand against the glare of the setting sun. "Jed..?" she called again.

"Over here Wanda," Jed said as he spied her coming his way. Jed was  
sitting on a rock shelf looking out- over the desert plains below the mountain. The bearded man was, indeed, chewing on the stem of an old pipe.

"Hello. You said you wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes ma'am. Pull up a boulder and sit with me. Pretty isn't it?"

"Yes."

Wanda sighed and looked at the vista below her. After her afternoon of heartfelt conversation with Melanie and the boys the soul felt peaceful and content. Enjoying the sunset was enhancing this feeling-as was the quiet company of the older man by her side. Jed had a way of putting Wanderer at ease. He also had a tendency to say exactly what needed to be said, when the need arose. She had a sense that was exactly what was about to happen...and she welcomed it.

"This is...new. Isn't it..?"

Wanda raised an eyebrow-Jed saw her silent question and answered,  
"Has a story like ours ever happened before? A member of your race  
finding friendship...family...and love with members of a host race?"

"No, Jeb."

The old man was very quiet for a moment. Wanda just let him keep the  
quiet between them until she noticed he was sniffling and his eyes  
were just a little moist.

"Does that upset you?"

"Not upset. Proud..." His voice broke just a little on the word _proud_…

Wanda slid a little closer and put her hand on the rock shelf next to Jeb's-an invitation. He patted that hand with his own and picked it up, holding it in his own calloused fingers. The two of them had rarely been this demonstrative of their feelings before...

As the sun was dipping below the horizon, turning the entire plain dozens of colors of orange and gold and burgundy, Wanda said, very quietly, "I'm proud of our story too."

"You always have been a gal of few words...I like that."

"You've always liked me...even when I didn't give you much reason to."

"Plenty of reasons to like you. As to your quiet nature-your face is like a big thick book-for anyone who'll take the trouble to read it..."

Wanda didn't know how to answer that so-she just let her expression  
speak for her.

"Did Mel talk your ear off?"

Wanda nodded.

"Your pretty new eyes are all red and puffy..."

"We all did some crying too..."

"Good or bad crying?"

"Both."

"Crying is good. It opens up the heart and lets bottled up feelings and old hurts just wash away...and you and my kids have been hanging onto some pretty giant hurts. I think it's time to let all of that go...Wanderer..."

She'd been right. Jeb knew what needed to be said.

"You haven't called me by my whole name in a long time..."

"It IS a mouthful...short compared to some others I've heard. This story of ours-it's just beginning, ya know? And as you said, this is new. Darling...are you happy with us? No second thoughts? No regrets?"

"Jeb if there is a living creature on this planet without regrets I would love to talk to them. Yes-I am happy here. This is my home...Earth...this place and all of you-are what I have been wandering around for a thousand years trying to find-so no second thoughts…But-I do have regrets..."

"Of course you do. Wanda you turned your back on your own kind to bring Melanie home to us. You have given up your own life and your own people to help us find some hope for a future. You have risked your life-for us—over and over- when you had no good reason to do it. You have quietly endured every bad, hateful thing we've done to you since you arrived without one word of hate or ever raising your hand in violence to anyone here...protecting everyone's feelings-but your own—saving people like Kyle who tried to kill you... NO good reason to care for you!? Kid you have done nothing since you got here but give us reasons to care for you!"

"It is who I am, Jeb." Wanda shrugged.

"Yes...it is."

Still a little uncomfortable with the praise of her character, Wanda blushed and said nothing for another few long moments. As the night fell and the first stars began to peek through the darkening blue-black sky she decided to—as her sister would say it—take the 'bull by the horns' and emulate Jeb in his directness.

"Melanie said you would ask me to make you a promise…"

"She did, huh? Alright...here is what I would like for you to promise me: whenever something happens...whenever you have something on your mind ...or on your heart...something big, something little...doesn't matter ...you come to one of us...don't fret about sparing our feelings if you think it is something we don't want to hear. You come talk to me...talk to Mel…Ian...Jamie... let us who love you help you. I'm human and I was born on this planet…and I don't have all life's answers! And I learned long ago that I'm not going to find then by myself! We came just a half a second away from losing you forever...over just such a bunch of nonsense and a lack of plain talk amongst family. And Wanda-you ARE family now..."

"I know I lied to you all Jeb...about my plans…about my arrangement with Doc. I'm sorry. But I made a promise to Mel and the boys...it will not happen again. And I promise you...I won't keep my troubles to myself. From now on I will talk to my family when I am unsure of anything."

"I understand. And Wanda when you make a promise I trust that about a  
dozen times more than any promise one of my own kind has ever made to me. And I don't have any way to guess what will happen with this little family of ours. It was like when I fell into the caves...I just had to feel my way in the dark as I looked for a way out. But I can tell you this...I was worrying myself sick over what would happen eventually to all of us...how things would end up. Now...I have hope that things might just turn out ok...for my people and for yours..."

_Family... Love… Hope_… What wonderful words.

"You and Ian, huh?" It was dark now, so Wanda could not see the twinkle in Jeb's eyes-but she knew it was there.

"Yeah." Wanderer was glad the darkness hid the redness of her new face.

"You take care. That boy is my guest. You treat him nice...and you be mindful of his heart. You break it...well..."

"You'll come after me. With your shotgun."

"Damn right. Wanda if one of us and one of you can find love...then THAT is all the reason in a dozen worlds-to have hope."

Jeb got up, slid his pipe into his jacket pocket and asked, "Ready for some supper?"

Wanda nodded, smiling. "Pork chops and salad."

"Nice..."

They walked back down the path toward the entrance to their cavern home.

Wanda thought of something. Even though she was fairly certain it would be impossible she said, "Jeb...the next time we go out-we'll try and find some tobacco for you...for your pipe."

"My pipe? Gave it up twenty years ago. I just keep it to remind me that I may do stupid things...but I learn from my mistakes...and I keep trying...with the people I love. Mel says the only way to describe the way you two girls feel about each other now is to call each other 'sister'? S'that right?"

She nodded.

"So if you and my niece are sisters...does that make us kin too?"

"I think it does...Uncle Jeb."


End file.
